The rusted steel gate of an abandoned vehicle yard groaned open.

  KRRRREEE—

  The Iron Shade transport Ray had stolen rolled to a stop in the center of a forgotten warehouse.

  Its lights flickered weakly—

  as if the machine itself had reached its limit.

  Ray stepped out.

  Dust coated his armor.

  Shards of metal clung to his arms and shoulders.

  Yet his posture remained perfectly straight.

  Like someone who hadn’t felt exhaustion at all.

  From deep within the warehouse—

  a concealed door slid open.

  Dr. Amporn emerged first.

  Behind her came Tatt, still panting, sweat-soaked, breathing like he’d just finished a five-hour marathon.

  The moment Tatt saw Ray—

  his face lit up completely.

  “Ray!!! How are you even alive!?”

  Ray answered with a faint smile.

  The kind an actor wore when he never broke character—

  not even for a heartbeat.

  “Just a little luck,” he said.

  “And a few techniques.”

  Dr. Amporn stepped closer.

  The tension in her expression finally loosened.

  “You actually did it,” she said quietly.

  “You pulled the entire Iron Shade force after you… long enough for us to reach this place.”

  Ray didn’t respond.

  He only lifted an eyebrow slightly.

  A restrained acknowledgment.

  Almost modest.

  Tatt immediately circled him, checking his armor, his arms, his gear—

  like a kid inspecting his hero.

  “You call that luck!?”

  “You dodged a rocket!”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “You jumped from the road into the sky!”

  “You took down over ten Iron Shade soldiers!”

  His voice nearly cracked.

  “Your clip is everywhere!

  The whole world is watching you right now!”

  Ray chuckled softly.

  But inside—

  his system silently transmitted their coordinates to Marcus.

  Dr. Amporn placed a hand on Ray’s shoulder.

  “Thank you, Ray.

  Without you… we would’ve been captured back underground.”

  Ray replied smoothly, effortlessly.

  “My role was just to bring us together.”

  His gaze shifted toward the lab interior.

  “What comes next… we’ll decide later.”

  A scanner inside the facility chirped.

  BEEP.

  The three of them moved deeper into the hidden lab.

  —Elsewhere—

  Darkness.

  Then—

  light bloomed across a massive holographic display.

  Marcus stood before it, arms crossed.

  On the screen—

  Ray versus Iron Shade.

  Playing again.

  And again.

  Every angle.

  Every camera feed.

  Headlines flooded the display:

  “Mysterious Man Shakes Bangkok!”

  “Hero, Terrorist, or Emerging Global Threat?”

  “Dark Rider: The Acrobat from Hell!”

  Marcus let out a low chuckle.

  The sound of a man admiring something beautiful—and violent.

  “He’s completely unhinged…”

  He slowed the footage.

  Paused it at the moment Ray activated the Gravity Boots—

  launching himself off a midair foam platform.

  “Perfect performance,” Marcus murmured.

  “Like a Hollywood protagonist.”

  He tapped his lip thoughtfully.

  Like someone enjoying the moment a prized fish finally bit the hook.

  An Iron Shade aide spoke up, voice unsteady.

  “Sir… should we deploy forces to hunt him down?”

  Marcus raised a hand.

  “Don’t.”

  The aide stiffened.

  “…Sir?”

  Marcus smiled.

  “Let him become famous.”

  The aide froze.

  Marcus turned back to the screen, grin widening.

  “The more famous Ray becomes…”

  “The more Three will want to meet him.”

  He shut the display down.

  The room plunged into darkness.

  “…The game has begun.”

  —Fade to black—

  Soft white lights filled Lin’s clinic-lab.

  Three lay propped against a recovery bed.

  Lin was changing his bandages—

  but her hands trembled.

  The television across the room replayed the same broadcast on a loop.

  “This mysterious man in military-grade armor—

  displaying superhuman acrobatics—

  has now reached number one worldwide, with seventy-eight million views in just three hours!”

  Lin turned sharply toward Three.

  Her eyes widened.

  “Three… this guy…”

  “…is this really the one you ran into?”

  Three stared at the screen.

  At Ray.

  At the exact moment he twisted away from the incoming bazooka—

  without blinking.

  His expression wasn’t simple shock.

  It was something deeper.

  Suspicion that cut to the bone.

  “…He’s too strong,” Three said quietly.

  Lin frowned.

  “You think… he’s not on our side?”

  Three clenched his jaw.

  He didn’t answer.

  Because somewhere deep inside—

  he already knew.

  No one was this capable…

  without wanting something in return.

  He narrowed his eyes as the footage continued.

  Ray firing midair.

  Deploying nanowires.

  Taking down Iron Shade soldiers with surgical precision.

  Three whispered, almost unconsciously.

  “…Who are you?”

  On the screen—

  Ray turned his head slightly.

  His face angled toward the camera.

  As if he were looking straight back at Three.

  The atmosphere in the room thickened.

  “Three… you don’t think he—”

  Three cut her off immediately.

  His voice was calm.

  Certain.

  “If he wants to stand with us…”

  “He’ll have to prove it.”

  Lin looked at him, worry etched across her face.

  But Three never looked away from the screen.

  The camera slowly pulled back—

  cutting between Ray’s image on the broadcast…

  and Three’s unblinking stare.

  Like two players acknowledging each other—

  through glass and signal.

  “…Before this game becomes something far more serious.”

  —Transmission ends—